PERSPECTIVE - How to Attract and Retain a Young, Skilled and Energetic Workforce

by Kayleigh Lombardi and Christine Schilke Connecticut can be tough for young people, that’s for sure. A telling example of this was shared at a recent forum on the economic impact of exclusionary zoning when a representative from the manufacturing industry told the audience how he’d recruited a young, skilled professional from the south, offering him an alluring $25 an hour wage to keep pace with Connecticut’s cost of living — more than double the $11 an hour he was making back home. Yet, it wasn’t enough.

After about two years, the young man decided to head back south. His reasoning: that even making more than double his salary, his costs — like paying $1,000 monthly rent — were simply too high for him to be able to afford to stay in Connecticut. His decision that he could have a better quality of life somewhere else, even earning less, is a scene being played out by millennials all across the state. The high costs of housing, college debt, transportation, and a myriad of other factors, mean that today’s millennials face a far tougher environment than their 1990s peers.

The data is pretty stark: despite being more educated, today’s young people are less likely to be employed, earn less overall, and, not surprisingly, are more likely to live with their parents or roommates. What’s more, the cost of that higher education lingers, hampering their ability to get ahead. With an average college debt of $34,773, they can little afford Connecticut’s housing costs — the 3rd highest in the nation — meaning our state’s young workers are starting their professional lives in the red and with little to spare for other expenses like a car, healthcare costs, or retirement savings.

Connecticut’s inability to retain young people has become increasingly evident over the past several years, resulting in dour headlines as major companies pick up stakes and move to those locations that are attracting young talent. An interest in lively downtowns, a variety of housing options, walkable communities, access to transit, and availability of jobs and economic opportunity are topping their lists, according to numerous studies and reports.

Recognizing the need to attract and retain a young, skilled, and energetic workforce, the Partnership for Strong Communities and Connecticut Main Street Center are partnering on Young Energetic Solutions (YES). YES is a statewide initiative aimed at empowering young people to create a vibrant Connecticut — a Connecticut where young people want to live. Building on the value gained in partnering with like-minded programs and organizations, YES is continuously forging partnerships with a variety of groups, in order to act as a resource for young people to effectuate positive change.

By engaging and educating young people to participate in their towns, on their local committees, or on statewide initiatives, YES works to support change in communities, expand the state’s housing options, and ultimately strengthen the state’s economy. Empowering young people to participate meaningfully in their neighborhoods and towns can develop a strong sense of ownership and belonging.

Participation at a local and state level allows young adults to provide necessary input into important decisions surrounding affordability, zoning, density, and transportation, as well as proactively address housing needs across municipalities.

Bolstering the millennial generation with dynamic, connected communities is a good thing for older and younger generations alike, as amenities such as walkability, access to transit and a variety of housing options are beneficial to all of us. Dynamic communities and diversity in housing are also economically fruitful, as the younger generation replaces retiring workers, providing the revenue towns and cities need in order to offer critical services to residents. With a fresh supply of young people and families to create that demand and potentially move into larger single-family homes as they grow their families, new opportunities to downsize will be available to our older residents stuck in large homes they may no longer want or need.

While our state clearly faces daunting budget challenges, there is hope. There’s growing consensus around the need to attract and retain young people, an increasing demand for information about what can be done and what’s working elsewhere, and a willingness to be innovative in our response. YES is finding a niche as this resource, building a network of young people and organizations that recognize the need for more millennials to stay and come to Connecticut, with the goal of incorporating young people’s perspectives into planning and design. And while we don’t claim to have all the answers, having the support of our respective organizations behind us means that we have access to experts in the realms of affordable housing and downtown revitalization — two key components in attracting this valuable demographic.

Beyond our work, there is much positive progress in the state. Efforts to improve the connectivity and appeal of our communities are everywhere— from Windsor’s revised website that lists available local board and commission seats, to Hartford’s revamped zoning code, or from Simsbury’s new multifamily housing to New Haven’s miles of bike lanes, change is coming to Connecticut. YES aims to add to these efforts by spurring more civic engagement among young people, while offering new ideas, best practices, and ultimately policies around how to attract and retain millennials.

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Kayleigh Lombardi is a Policy Analyst at the Partnership for Strong Communities. The Partnership is a statewide nonprofit policy and advocacy organization dedicated to ending homelessness, expanding the creation of affordable housing, and building strong communities in Connecticut.

Christine Schilke is Communications Director for the Connecticut Main Street Center, whose mission is to be the catalyst that ignites Connecticut’s Main Streets as the cornerstone of thriving communities. CMSC is dedicated to community and economic development within the context of historic preservation, and firmly believes that when our downtowns are great, they’re great for everyone, attracting young talented workers, creative thinkers and entrepreneurs, and in turn powering Connecticut’s economy.

For more information on YES, visit www.yesct.org or email yes4ct@gmail.com.

This article first appeared in the Summer 2017 issue of Connecticut Planning, a publication of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Planning Association. 

PERSPECTIVE: Reexamining Our Approach to College Access

by Angel B. Pérez Recently, I read yet another higher education professional’s case for standardized testing, specifically that making such tests free and universal would help level the playing field for low-income and minority students seeking access to top colleges. But while the SAT’s hefty $57 fee contributes to the barriers low-income students face, eliminating it won’t solve the problem. Access to higher education in America is much more complex.

The problem is our nation’s inability to offer consistent college preparation, academic rigor and counseling across varying socioeconomic communities. Data from the College Board show that the higher your family’s income, the higher your SAT scores are. Standardized tests then do more to keep low-income students out of top colleges than to invite them in. There is no shortage of talent in America. The shortage lies in its cultivation.

Many countries surpassed the United States in educational attainment because they believe in providing equal educational opportunity for all.  In fact, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, which measures global student performance, notes that the U.S. is not on the top 10 list of achievement in Math, Reading and Science. Canada and Japan on the other hand, are. What do these two nations have in common? Both made equal access to educational opportunity a top priority.

In Japan, students may live in a poor neighborhood, but they don’t attend poor schools. In Canada, one third of young people come from immigrant families and, when given the same educational opportunities, perform at the same level as their peers. Equity has clearly benefited Canada tremendously since it is the only nation in the world where more than half its citizens have a college degree. Unfortunately, the U.S. lags behind on this issue. Instead of exerting energy investigating “affirmative action” in college admissions, perhaps the current administration could address the educational inequities that have resulted in America being knocked off the world stage.

A study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling shows that the average public school counselor has a caseload of 476 students and spends only 22% of his or her time on postsecondary counseling. This is in stark contrast to the 55% that private school counselors spend. Most low-income high schools can’t afford to offer expensive test-preparation courses to their students, and while free or low-cost online options are available, the services offered to students who pay for preparation courses are unparalleled.

Yet knowing how stark the contrasts are in preparation between low- and high-income students in America, most colleges still insist on using an exam that was created in 1926 by Carl C. Brigham to “test” America’s intelligence. The exam was originally touted as a tool of meritocracy, the great equalizer among students in America. We all know that dream never actualized. Our world has evolved tremendously since then, and a one-size-fits-all approach cannot be used to evaluate whether a student is ready to succeed in college. Our nation’s talent abounds. It’s higher education’s job to identify it.

From my own experiences as a vice president and teacher at several of America’s most selective institutions, I know it’s easy to dismiss an applicant because he or she doesn’t meet the university’s average test scores, or even worse, would hurt its average on U.S. News and World Report rankings.

But research shows that rather than test scores, the best predictors of success in college are high school grades and academic rigor.

At Trinity College, I have led efforts to rethink how we admit students, and we’ve changed our admissions process to think differently about what it means to be “college ready.” One of the changes we made was to adopt a test-optional policy. Next month, the college will welcome the most diverse first-year class in its history. It includes the highest number of low-income and first-generation students in Trinity’s history. In addition, the academic profile has increased tremendously. The Class of 2021 has twice as many students at the top of our academic evaluation scale as last year’s entering class. We focus on grades, rigor, curriculum and all quantitative data high schools submit to us. But we also pay very close attention to personal qualities that we know will help students succeed in college—qualities such as curiosity, love of learning, perseverance and grit.

Since we’ve redefined our admissions process, members of our faculty have told us that their students are more curious, engaged and involved. Isn’t that what we want from all of our students?

If our educational system in America provided equal educational opportunity to all students regardless of income level, making the SAT and ACT free might significantly increase the number of low-income students in college. However, since this is a far cry from our current reality, it is higher education’s responsibility to think more creatively about whom it allows in the door. We are a long way from ensuring that every citizen has equal access to high-quality education, but in the meantime, universities can play a significant role in ensuring inclusivity of all talent.

The demography of the U.S. is shifting dramatically. Our population is younger, more diverse and less wealthy. If we are going to prepare the nation for future challenges and regain our status on the world stage, we must rethink our approach to college access. We either fundamentally change student preparation for college or make our admissions processes more inclusive of diverse talents and less traditional—but more predictive—measures of success. Actually, our nation’s future depends on our doing both.

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Angel B. Pérez is vice president for enrollment and student success at Trinity College in Hartford.  This article first appeared in the New England Journal of Higher Education.

PERSPECTIVE - Early Childhood Care and Education: A Prudent Investment

by Joanna Meyer, Michael Strambler, Clare Irwin and George Coleman Young children are often compared to sponges because they constantly soak up new knowledge. In serving children under five, high-quality early childhood care and education programs aim to capitalize on this stage of rapid brain development in efforts to promote positive outcomes among children.

Much has been learned about the impact of early childhood education from research over the past several decades. While some researchers have shown that the positive effects of early childhood programs on children’s achievement may fade over the first years of elementary school, research with longer time horizons tells a different story about long-term effects.

For example, the Perry Preschool Project and the Carolina Abecedarian Project are two rigorously studied programs in which at-risk children were tracked from birth into their 30s. Half of the children participated in an intensive early childhood education program from infancy to kindergarten entry while the other half did not. When children who had participated in these programs grew into adults, they had improved educational attainment, employment, earnings, and health outcomes. They also engaged in less criminal activity and fewer unhealthy behaviors.

These research findings have important implications for society. If early childhood programs produce healthier adults, investing in these programs could reduce the burden on the health care system. If children who participated in early childhood programs grow up to experience higher employment rates and earnings, requests for public assistance should decrease. If these children are less likely to engage criminal activity, their communities and society as a whole should benefit.

Research also points to clear economic implications of investing in early childhood education. For example, through studies of two specific programs that served students from birth to age five and following children into their thirties, economists have estimated a social benefit to society of $7.30 for every $1.00 spent on early childhood programs, with an annual return on investment of 13.7%.

While this estimate is based on two small demonstration programs, another study analyzed evaluations of a wider range of early childhood programs and noted that the federal Head Start program produces persistent beneficial effects on long-term outcomes. It also made the case that a comprehensive cost/benefit analyses of Head Start would reveal a high rate of return.

How would investing in early childhood education pay off in Connecticut?  In a recent policy brief by Connecticut Voices for Children, the authors use the 7.3 benefit/cost ratio to estimate the benefits and costs of early childhood education in Connecticut. According to these estimates, it would cost $1.8 billion dollars to provide high-quality early childhood care and education to all Connecticut children under age 5, and this care would have a long-term economic benefit of $13.3 billion.

It is also important to note that in states like Connecticut with vast economic disparities, the provision of high-quality early childhood education alone is not enough to level the playing field for disadvantaged children. Many low-income children are concentrated in poor neighborhoods, and research has shown that the neighborhood in which a child is raised impacts the child’s inter-generational mobility.

Children living in poverty are more likely to face toxic stress that results from food insecurity, housing instability, and limited access to health care, all of which can impact children’s short- and long-term outcomes. Maximizing the impact of high-quality early childhood education may include addressing the causes of toxic stress, which in turn requires investment in supportive services for families.

In the midst of the current fiscal crisis in Connecticut, lawmakers are urgently seeking ways to reduce the short-term budget deficit. When evaluating potential reductions to spending on education and social services for young children and their families, it is critical to consider the long-term impacts of such an approach.

According to the cost-benefit analyses described above, cutting $1M of early childhood education funding from the state budget now could result in a $7.3M reduction in long-term benefits to society. The evidence suggests that across-the-board cuts to the programs that serve Connecticut’s most vulnerable citizens is economically imprudent in the long run.

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Joanna Meyer, M.A.T., Michael Strambler, Ph.D., Clare Irwin, Ph.D, and George Coleman, M.Ed., M.A.are the Management Team for the Partnership for Early Education Research (PEER), an alliance among early childhood stakeholders in Connecticut that engages in collaborative research focused on children from birth through age 8. By pursuing questions developed in collaboration with its members, PEER aims to produce rigorous, actionable research that can inform early childhood education policy and practice at the local and state levels, increase access to high-quality early childhood education, and reduce disparities in educational outcomes. Funding support for PEER is provided by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the Spencer Foundation.

PERSPECTIVE: Protect Connecticut DREAMers, A Vital Part of Our Communities

by Khadija Gurnah Nearly 800,000 DREAMers -- young adults who were brought to America as children -- received critical protections and work authorization under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. It provided undocumented immigrant youth with opportunities to study and participate in the workforce.

DACA has been operational for five years and it is a success. It is popular with the public and enjoys the support of employers, educators, community leaders and elected officials from both political parties.

But despite this widespread support, DACA is under attack. President Trump has not decided whether to continue or end the program, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton -- joined by attorneys general from nine other states -- is threatening to sue the Trump Administration if DACA is not rescinded by September 5th.

Ending DACA would be short-sighted and inhumane. It would directly harm roughly 5,000 people in Connecticut who have work permits under the program, and it would indirectly harm thousands more -- young people who are a dynamic part of their communities and who contribute tremendously to the strength and vitality of our state.

Nationally, rescinding DACA would be disastrous to our economy. Removing 800,000 people from the workforce nationwide would be short-sighted and harmful. It would cost the country $433.4 billion in GDP loss over a decade. It would cost employers $3.4 billion in unnecessary turnover costs. Contributions to Medicare and Social Security would be cut by $24.6 billion over a decade.

DACA recipients are employers and consumers. Some 6 percent have launched businesses that employ American citizens. Almost 55 percent have purchased a vehicle, and more than one in ten has purchased a home.

Recognizing their contributions, last month U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) took a step in the right direction when they introduced the bipartisan DREAM Act of 2017. This urgently needed legislation would provide a path to citizenship for the nearly 1.8 million DREAMers who have grown up in this country and know no other home.

They include DREAMers like Carolina Bortolleto, a Connecticut resident, a DACA recipient and an advocate who has lived in the United States since she was ten. In October 2010, Bortolleto founded Connecticut Students for a DREAM, a statewide organization of young adults who works for the rights of undocumented youth and their families.

I met Carolina at a community roundtable with U.S. Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. She is working hard to create a platform to ensure other young DREAMers have an opportunity to come out of the shadows and actively participate in the economy and the communities in the only home they've ever known. Our state is stronger, and more just, for her tireless work.

Protecting family unity, ensuring that our public policies address the concerns of immigrant women and children, and ending human rights abuses that are occurring in the name of immigration law enforcement are in our national interest. We urgently need a constructive national dialog on reforming our country’s immigration policies, so they will finally reflect our values as a nation and allow all families to contribute to our culture and economy.

That begins with passing the DREAM Act -- a smart, humane immigration policy that will strengthen our communities and our country. The incredible young people known as DREAMers are contributing to our communities and our economy. Our state and our nation will benefit tremendously if the DREAM Act becomes law and we move to permanently protect DREAMers, to give them the opportunity to build lives in the country we all call home.

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Khadija Gurnah is a Campaign Director with MomsRising, an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people. She lives in Wallingford, Connecticut.

PERSPECTIVE: Resilience is So Much More Than Bouncing Back

by Taryn Stejskal In the face of adversity, why do some people flourish while others fold?

The essential condition required to live a flourishing life is not found in the absence of challenge, but rather in a person’s ability to persevere amidst trials. Resilience is demonstrated in both positive and negative life events.

“Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit.” - Bern Williams

What Resilience is Not – Merely Bouncing Back

Resilience is not merely bouncing back; it is so much more than elasticity and returning to where you began. It’s not more than merely marking time until the suffering recedes, it’s actively engaging in growth through the lessons life presents. As Andy Warhol said, “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

What Resilience is

As Rumi put it, “the business of being human” describes resilience.

Adversity is a trip we take. Resilience paves the road; it is the willingness to endure hardship and as a result, allow ourselves to be fundamentally and forever changed. For our effort, when we return from the journey, we receive gifts of greater confidence, strength, wisdom and compassion.

How does a person flourish during and after confronting challenge?

Five universal practices of resilience:

1. Vulnerability: There is a struggle in every good life. There is life at the heart of every good struggle.

“Resilience is very different than being numb. Resilience means you experience, you feel, you fail, you hurt. You fall. But you keep going.” – Yasmin Mogahed

In our culture, there is shame bias: the belief that others’ adversity makes them more worthy, while believing our own adversity is shameful, making us less worthy.

When a colleague shared her 29 years of sobriety or a friend bravely overcame child abuse, I marveled at these living warriors with admiration! Yet sharing my own messy struggles make me cringe and panic at others’ responses.

Practice: Resilient leaders let their whole authentic selves shine, they allow their inside selves (thoughts, feelings, and experiences) to be congruent with their outside selves - the self they project to the world.

2. Productive Perseverance: Choose the intelligent application of persistence.

“Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” - Napoleon Hill

As a result of my undiagnosed dyslexia, I didn’t read well until third grade. Later, I was determined to successfully pursue of my Ph.D. despite my learning disability. Conversely, when I was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition that reduces blood flow to the arms and hands, I redirected my athletic pursuits away from collegiate swimming and took up running instead. We’ve all received conflicting advice: “Stay the course” versus “don’t be afraid to shift gears.”

Resilient leaders are able to navigate the polarity of this seemingly contradictory advice.

Practice: Develop the flexibility and intelligence to navigate the strategic dilemma of opposing forces. Know when to pivot and rethink the plan while maintaining the mission.

3. Connection: Connectivity with those outside of ourselves.

“We rise by lifting others.” - Robert Ingersoll

A while back, I was assaulted at a concert. In the pit area next to the stage, a group of men cornered me and pressed their bodies aggressively into mine. Later, I was bruised and sore. Inside, I felt angry and violated. I wanted to disconnect from my body along with my purpose of teaching others to overcome adversity.

A wise colleague instructed me, instead of asking, “Why this is happening to me?” ask, “Why is this happening for me?” This question brought clarity in the midst of chaos. Countless women endure harassment, even far worse, and didn’t quit. If they could stay the course, I told myself, so could I. I owed it to them to keep going. My story foster connection with others and allows me to create something beautiful from something that, initially made me feel broken.

Practice: Connection with the perspective of purpose inspires greater meaning and closeness with others, and prevents us from being derailed from our path.

     4.“Grati-osity:” Our difficulty may be ordinary - loss, hurt and tragedy, but the wisdom is extraordinary.

“It’s not happy people who are thankful, it’s thankful people that are happy.” - Unknown

Rather than allowing pain to make them stingy, resilient leaders allow adversity to amplify their experience through gratitude and generosity. Gratitude and therefore resilience, is not about praising the sorrow. It is about honoring the capacity for healing and growth that springs from suffering.

Practice: Be patient. Most people have to wait to realize the benefit that often follows this pattern: pain - patience - growth – “grati-osity.”

5. Possibility: The ability to envision what could be versus what is.

“In order to love who you are, you cannot hate the experiences that shaped you.” - Andrea Dykstra

Having faced difficultly, resilient leaders can be inoculated against fear and perceived repercussions of failure, allowing them to see hope instead of hindrance, possibility instead of problems.

Practice: It’s an age-old tale, coming back after failure, standing up one more time than we fall down.

Adversity Quotient (AQ): The inability to be deterred by failure (not IQ or EQ), but the ability to persevere despite the odds, to acknowledge fear and failure, and to forge onward is the stuff of true success.

Resilience Gives Purpose to Our Pain

Resilience fosters growth and integration of all that we are, instead of compartmentalization. Resilience is wholeness. As in the Japanese art form, Kintsukoroi, the repairing of pottery with gold or silver lacquer, there is the understanding that the piece is stronger and more beautiful for having been broken.

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Taryn Stejskal is Director, Global Senior Leadership Development & Assessment, Cigna. She is an award-winning high-energy doctoral-level talent development leader with extensive expertise in the design and delivery of high impact talent management processes including: assessment, leadership development, executive coaching, mentorship, selection processes, high potential identification and programs, competency analysis and validation, and succession planning.  She has served as a board member for Leadership Greater Hartford.  This article first appeared on the website of the Human Capital institute.

PERSPECTIVE: Yes, We Can Change the World

by Ramzi Kaiss …As we will come to find out, everyday for the rest of our lives, and not just today, will be that real celebration of the lessons we’ve learned, the relationships we’ve built, and the love that we’ve had and shared on this beautiful New London hilltop. You see our experiences cannot be objectified and contained within a piece of paper, they are bigger than that. For they shall pervade the way we got about our lives forever, and I mean it.

Look around you for a moment. Take it all in: Look at the beautiful campus you are surrounded by, but more importantly look the beautiful people you are amongst, Inside and outside these buildings that are surrounding us, and through the people we are surrounded by, we have discovered the meaning of our time at this institution and of our role in the world beyond its walls.

Here we discovered that as we face the world tomorrow, what is more worthy than merely finding a job is finding a good cause to live and work tirelessly for. Through the people we are surrounded by, we discovered that what is more essential than merely making money is making this world a better place for all of its inhabitants, regardless of their sex, race, gender, ethnicity, orientation or religion.

Because yes, there is no doubt that you will become successful. There is no doubt that you can become future peacemakers and noble CEO’s, instrumental social activists and leaders of NGO’s; future dancers and award winning musicians, inspiring academics and pious politicians; future radical educators and mind-blowing performers, and yes, oh yes, righteous revolutionaries and renowned reformers.

Nevertheless, as this place has taught us, life is not so much about how far we go, but what about we do with that distance. It is about how we utilize our positions of power to empower the people around us.

And not only did we learn these lessons with one another, but through and because of one another- whether in the classroom or at a ridge party, during office hours or campus-wide discussions, or even right here on Temple Green, as part of the many late-night conversations that I’m sure most of us have had. Because in the end, it is in the people that we have become and in the future work that we will accomplish as a result of this becoming, that the true celebration of our time at Connecticut College will be actualized. And that will take place day after day after day.

We must admit that with a Connecticut College education we are more than ready to take on some of the most important challenges that the human population faces today. At a time in our world where poisonous hatred has already ripped apart communities and destroyed lives, our education and our experiences are the much-needed antidote that can heal and rebuild.

As French philosopher Albert Camus puts it, “there is no sun without shadows, and it is essential to know the night.” Now, more than ever, not only do we know why systems of inequality continue to exist, but we know how to dismantle them in order to create a more equitable society.

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Ramzi Kaiss '17 was the 2017 Commencement Senior Class Speaker at Connecticut College in New London. Ramzi, from Beirut, Lebanon, was a philosophy and international relations double major and Mellon Fellow. He served as President of the Student Government Association, as well as co-president of the Amnesty International club. In 2016, he received a research grant from Connecticut College and spent his summer conducting research for the Boston-based global nonprofit, Facing History And Ourselves. In February 2017, he traveled to Bogotá, Colombia for the 16th World Summit for Nobel Peace Laureates.

PERSPECTIVE: Journalism and Medicine - Comfortable with Uncertainty

by Dr. Jon LaPook I thought you might want me to talk about what I've learned from blending medicine and journalism. If I'm wrong, I'm sure I'll find out soon enough from today's Quinnipiac graduation exit poll.  I work in two worlds. Thirty-seven years ago, I graduated from medical school. Eleven years ago, I started as a correspondent for CBS News. But I continue to love medicine and still see patients.

I want to make sure you leave here today with at least one piece of advice that will help you be a better physician, will set you apart from the pack, no matter what specialty you enter. I'll tell you one story from each world, then leave you with a single piece of practical advice I've learned from doing both jobs.

Since the Hippocratic Oath outranks the Nielsen ratings, I'll start with medicine.

At this moment, you are about to become a doctor. When I was in your shoes, I remember thinking that every test, every paper, every minute of studying since kindergarten had led to this one enormous achievement: a medical degree. So breathe it in. But you are not doctors yet. At this delicious moment, breathe that in, too.

Remember what it can feel like to be a patient: the mixture of emotions, from helplessness to embarrassment to fear. I know you've been studying for years to learn the science of medicine, but today I'm also asking you to consider the art of healing. Don't let all those facts and figures crowd out your ability to connect with your patients. But how in the world do you do that—especially during your internship and residency, when you'll be multitasking, tired, and just trying to keep your head above water?

It starts with a decision about the emotional wall we all build between ourselves and our patients. Constructing it is tricky. You don't want to make it too thin and porous, because that can be emotionally devastating. But you don't want to make it too thick and impervious, because then you miss out on all the good stuff, the precious moments when you connect with a patient as a person. I treasure the time an elderly patient showed up for an office visit on a beautiful spring day, and I wheeled her over to the Central Park Zoo to watch the sea lions. No medicine I have ever prescribed has had a more powerful therapeutic response.

Everybody has to find a comfort level. For me, erring on the side of "too empathetic" is the way to go. Patients pick up on it, and if they feel you really care, they're more likely to open up to you.

When I was a third-year medical student rotating through psychiatry, I saw an 8-year-old girl referred by the school psychologist. My preceptor and I met her in clinic once a week, but we couldn't figure out what was going on. For some reason, during the last visit of my rotation, I asked her mother, a single mom—I can still see her smile—what she would do when her daughter, the youngest of three, grew up and left home. She said, "Oh, I'll jump that bridge when I come to it."

The words were almost around the corner—in fact, my preceptor went right on to the next question—when I interrupted him and said, "You know, you just said 'I'll jump that bridge when I come to it,' and the expression is I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Are you upset about the thought of one day being alone?" Her smile evaporated and she started crying. She was not only depressed, which helped explain what was bothering her 8-year-old daughter, but she was suicidal, and we immediately arranged for treatment. That moment was simultaneously the most exhilarating and the most terrifying moment of medical school. What if I had missed it? What if we had just gone on to the next question? What had I already missed with other patients? And what was I going to miss in the future?

Here's the point. Here's a piece of advice that will set you apart: When we're watching a movie and an important moment is about to happen, how do we know? Because there's a close-up and the music changes. Well, in life, there's no close-up and there's no change of music. You have to play the soundtrack in your own head. You have to control the zoom button yourself. You must catch that moment when the patient—consciously or unconsciously—tells you what's the matter. You need to get them to open up to you as one human being to another. And they will not do that unless they know they are talking to a human being!

Now part two. Journalism and medicine go together well. There's a lot of overlap between what I do as a journalist and what I do—and you will do—as a physician: communicate. It doesn't matter if it's to one person or millions. Our job is to explain things clearly and provide perspective based on the most reliable information available. It's easy to slip into medspeak. But, believe me, not everybody knows what a cohort is, or a subset. Instead of "contraindicated," how about just saying, "not a good idea?"

These days, there's a lot to explain, and it's tough to do that if you have only 15 or 20 minutes with a patient. The key is taking complex topics and presenting them in simple, accessible terms. So communicating clearly—and succinctly—is an important skill. Work on it.

Your patients will look to you for guidance concerning what they should and should not worry about, and that's where staying up to date will be crucial. I did 66 segments about Ebola—we counted—and the message was the same every time. Ebola was a huge problem in West Africa, but the odds of it spreading widely in the United States were extremely low.

I'm more concerned about Zika, and have been saying that on air, over and over, for a year, including in a "60 Minutes" piece last fall. It's the first mosquito-borne virus ever known to cause a birth defect, including microcephaly, and the first mosquito-borne virus to be sexually transmitted. I've covered this story in Brazil, Puerto Rico, and—two weeks ago—in south Texas. With a vaccine not expected until next year, at the earliest, it seems inevitable the virus will spread further in the United States, especially to mosquitoes along the Gulf Coast. But people are still not aware enough about the risks, and about how to protect themselves. This is a perfect example of where I can help by talking to a large audience, and you can help by talking to your patients and friends. And with especially complicated issues like Zika, point them to reliable online information, like the CDC website.

My experience in journalism has helped me see how we—as doctors—can make a difference beyond what we might imagine.

Three months after the terrible 2010 earthquake, I was in Port-de-Paix in northern Haiti—the poorest part of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. I was in a one-room combination delivery room and neonatal ICU. To my right was a premature baby boy, clinging to life with the help of the one portable oxygen machine on hand. To my left was a woman in labor. Suddenly, the unborn baby's pulse dropped. After a few minutes, the oxygen machine was wheeled from the premature baby to the woman in labor, who delivered a healthy girl. The premature baby died. In the United States, that baby would have had more than a ninety percent chance of survival.

You certainly don't have to go to Haiti to see health care inequity. You find it throughout the world and across the United States—disparities in outcomes based on factors like race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. I won't quote facts and figures: You've undoubtedly seen them already. But I'd like to convince you that you can make a difference here. You have that power. And it doesn't have to be on a grand, policy-level scale—although that would be nice!

You don't have to be Dr. Paul Farmer, a co-founder of Partners In Health, who helped build a modern hospital in central Haiti that opened two years after the earthquake. Oxygen outlets in the walls by every bed, for the next premature baby. You can make a difference, one person at a time, in your own community.

But, of course, we do need large-scale, public health and policy solutions to health care inequity. Please keep your eyes open so you recognize it—whether in your practice or in some far off place. Think about what you can do to help. And triage this as "stat."

And now this: a single piece of advice based on what I've learned in both fields, as a physician and a journalist. Be comfortable with uncertainty.

If you've been practicing medicine for five years and you think you have all the answers, you're in the wrong profession. Patients get understandably frustrated when one year we say one thing, and the next year it appears we're saying the exact opposite—whether it's about postmenopausal hormone replacement, mammography, PSA screening, or whatever. But YOU shouldn't be frustrated. Medicine has always been about trying to think logically, based on the best available data. And thank goodness that data changes. For thousands of years, holes were drilled into the skulls of patients to release evil spirits, and people were bled to help restore the correct balance of "bodily humors." What are we doing now that doctors a hundred years from now will look back at and think, "Can you believe they used to do that? Antibiotics for infections? Didn't they know about drilling a hole into the skull to release the evil spirits?" Don't laugh; we're using leeches again, not for bloodletting but to help improve microcirculation and wound healing.

All this should actually take the pressure off. You may be thinking, "Do I really know enough to be a doctor?" I certainly had that question. Well, you DO know enough—and there will be supervision! Your colleagues and teachers are there to help. And you have the foundation: a knowledge of anatomy, pathophysiology, all the basics. After that, no matter how many facts you've memorized, it's still only a tiny fraction of all medical knowledge. So relax. Practicing medicine is open-book. You have a ton of electronic medical information at your fingertips, and you're going to have the fun of learning something new every single day.

And you're allowed to say, "I don't know"—an especially good idea when you don't know.

What's going to distinguish you as true healers is the way you embrace humility, compassion, and empathy. Turn away from the computer screen and look your patient straight in the eyes. Understand the extraordinary importance of listening. And realize that even when you don't have the answer for a patient in need, you can still help—with a sympathetic ear, a reassuring touch of the hand, and by sticking by them, through sickness and health.

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Dr. Jon LaPook is the CBS News chief medical correspondent, a professor at the NYU School of Medicine, an internist and gastroenterologist at NYU Langone Medical Center, and the Director of the NYU Langone Empathy Project. He delivered the 2017 commencement address to the first graduating class of new doctors from the Quinnipiac University Frank H. Netter, M.D., School of Medicine.  The full address is available on the CBS News website.

PERSPECTIVE: Beyond the Land of Unsteady Habits

by Kevin B. Sullivan These days, it may seem like Connecticut is the land of unsteady habits.  As Governor Malloy says, sometimes it just feels like we always see the glass half empty.

For example, those of us in the capital area get a steady stream of bad news about our capital city in crisis.  Yet, right next door, there’s West Hartford where our state’s 8^th largest municipality exemplifies diversity, good governance, fiscal sustainability and continuous economic re-invention.

So let’s not waste time obsessing about Aetna’s headquarters move, like we did with GE.  Neither move is about competitiveness in taxes or cost of living.  Both are more about the beggar-thy-neighbor bidding war among the states for public subsidies.

Make no mistake, our rhetoric – especially our political rhetoric – influences how we see ourselves and how others see us.  No democracy or economy, national or state, can thrive by looking backwards, devaluing our shared assets or chasing short-term satisfactions.  So stow the political back-biting and skip the pity party.  Let’s get back to work.

I am a realist, but not a pessimist.  Being a realist means building from our strengths, facing our weaknesses, embracing our challenges and creating new opportunities.  Right now is the best opportunity we have to get it right.  That starts by understanding there is no magic – just smart decisions, hard work and a vision that’s fiscally sustainable and economically nimble.

With long years of service in the State Legislature behind me, I see so many things we did right but also many that we did wrong or just ignored.  Now, as Revenue Services Commissioner, I get to have a new window on the state economy every day.  So what do I see?

Prior to the Great Recession, Connecticut experienced one of the strongest and longest runs of economic growth in the nation.  Confident in our highest per capita income and traditional economic base, we were complacent.  Then, in the hard times that followed, we failed to see that a very long and very deep recession also masked tectonic economic shifts.   We have been struggling ever since just to understand that this time it’s not about recovery – it’s about renewal.

Under Republicans and Democrats, state spending has outpaced economic growth and personal income growth for the past twenty years.  Worse still, most of the growth and most of every state budget is fixed costs.  Unfunded liabilities that no one before Governor Malloy has challenged.  No wonder, under Republican and Democratic governors, three major tax increases in the past twenty years have now reached a point of diminishing return.

Connecticut’s income tax is the third most progressive in the nation.  It includes an earned income credit that helps working families and puts money back into the economy.  Income taxes should be progressive.  But over-reliance on a highly progressive income tax and a relatively small segment of very high income taxpayers produces big revenue volatility.

While our [tax] rates are comparatively high, the business-backed national Council on State Taxation continues to rank Connecticut among the lowest total effective tax burden states.  But that does not mean we cannot do better.

Led by DRS, supported by the Governor and working with the business community, we have already achieved a trifecta of corporate tax reforms.  With conversion to a unitary, single factor, destination sourced approach, we have ended a tax regime that used to favor out of state businesses while burdening Connecticut-based businesses.  Whether corporate income or pass-through income, DRS is also stepping up in audit to challenge those who tilt the playing field through off-shoring and transfer pricing schemes that are tax evasion by any other name.

However, fewer and fewer businesses are organized as corporations.   Personal taxation of pass-through business income now drives state business tax revenue.  Different taxes and different rules for businesses that differ in form only.  There are also many other types of Connecticut business taxes determined solely by the nature of the product or service provided.

Add to that the irritant of Connecticut’s so-called Business Entity Tax, a fee that is often the first tax slap experienced by new enterprises well before turning even a first dollar of profit.  As other states have done, it’s time to at least consider rationalizing this mess with a single receipts-based tax that includes meaningful start-up and reinvestment credits.

In fact, there are so many ways to use smart revenue policy as an economic driver.  With transportation gridlock and aged infrastructure ham-stringing growth, we need a modern toll system that generates essential reinvestment.  Let’s ramp up tax credits for R&D, job creation, training for new workers, retraining for displaced workers and business reinvestment.

We can even pay for it by getting rid the remaining mishmash of credits and abatements that make no appreciable economic difference at all.  Rather than pile on more loans, let’s drag antiquated systems of public and private higher education into the 21^st century and then use tax policy to provide incentives for graduates to stay in Connecticut as next generation entrepreneurs and skilled workers.

In exchange for real political and structural reform, we can also use tax policy - rather than bailouts, bankruptcies or yet another layer of government – to re-invent livability and economic viability in our struggling cities.

Connecticut’s economic strengths need to be the basis of any diagnostic for improved competitiveness.  A long and strong run of economic performance still leaves us a great state to live and work.  We continue to rank highly on so many key economic measures: personal income, low poverty levels (although dangerously concentrated), R&D investment, GDP per capita, invention and productivity, manufacturing and finance as competitive growth engines, educational attainment, public safety and livability, and location.

Connecticut may not economically be what it was, but there is no good reason why we cannot be what we want to be now and into the future.

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Kevin B. Sullivan is Commissioner of the state Department of Revenue Services, and previously served as Lieutenant Governor, Senate President Pro Tempore and a member of the State Senate.  This is adapted from remarks delivered in June at the Connecticut Business Summit. 

PERSPECTIVE: Enduring Impact of Risky Driving Can Change Anyone’s Life

by Nikole Doolittle and Sherry Chapman "This upcoming New Year’s Day will mark 14 years since I woke up in the intensive care unit of Hartford Hospital, unable to walk, talk, eat, or even breathe on my own.  I had been in a coma for 28 days, and had sustained a traumatic brain injury.

I can still remember that night like it was yesterday.  I headed out with a group of friends and the newly licensed driver decided to test out his speed.  When we hit what seemed like 100, all of us in the car screamed for the driver to stop or at least slow down, we were so scared.  One of my friends remembers the boys counting the speed up to 127 trying to beat their last record of 125.

I was told the driver had lost control of the car, it hit the guardrails on the right side of the highway and then flipped left rolling across the highway, through the median, landing on the other side.  At some point while the car was rolling I was thrown through the back window.   Once the paramedics showed up, I was unresponsive so they put me on life support right in the median of the highway.  For the next 30 days, I never took another breath on my own."

This is how Nikole Doolittle begins as she shares her heart wrenching experience with students at high schools and, most recently, Windham Middle School, as a part !MPACT's Drive 4 Tomorrow program.

Early in Nikole's recovery, she knew she had to do something to help combat motor vehicle crashes caused by young drivers, the number one killer of teens in America. She met members of !MPACT (an acronym for Mourning Parents Act, Inc.) at a presentation she made at Cromwell High School. Not long afterwards, she began delivering her safe teen driving message with the !MPACT moms at high schools across Connecticut and into greater New England.

All members of !MPACT have been directly affected by tragedy involving teen driving. Everyone has a horrific story. Sadly, Nikole fit right in.

!MPACT's mission is to eliminate tragedies caused by inexperienced drivers through awareness, education and legislation. The group raises awareness with their "Somebody Loves You" billboard initiative. They educate by delivering their heart wrenching Drive 4 Tomorrow presentations, in which members share their personal stories and teach teens how to protect themselves and their friends from becoming statistics. They fight hard for safety legislation to protect teen drivers, their passengers, and those of us who share the roads with them. The group was instrumental in helping to develop and pass into law Connecticut's graduated drivers licensing program, which serves to introduce the novice driver to the driving experience in a gradual manner.

This is how Nikole ends her story:

"I had taken for granted the daily routine of my life, getting up, brushing my teeth, combing my hair, eating, walking, even the simple task of talking.  These were all ordinary events which suddenly disappeared on the night of January 1, 2004. 

A lot has happened since then, one year of hospitals, two years of therapy, three eye surgeries, one stomach surgery, one mouth surgery, and a lifetime of memory problems. It has taken me well over eight years of rehab, therapy, and figuring out who I had become. Despite this, I landed a job with United Technologies, moved over 12 hours away and thrived on my own for five years. I finally returned home to Connecticut to be near family this past September.

When sharing my story, I try to remind these newly licensed drivers, that anything can happen to anybody – and driving is a huge responsibility.  I appear to be like everyone else, but I am not. I try to remind my audience that I could have been.  Once you make a bad decision, there is no turning back."

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Sherry Chapman is Co-founder and President of Mourning Parents Act, Inc.

All of !MPACT's services are offered for free. Members of !MPACT include families, friends, and victims, and all donate their own time and resources to advance the mission of the organization.  If you are interested in having !MPACT present its Drive 4 Tomorrow program at your high school or other forum, please contact Sherry Chapman at 860-209-7070.  !MPACT is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supported by donations, grants, and one annual fundraiser––their annual Tee Off For Teen Driving Safety golf tournament will be held at Blackledge Country Club in Hebron on Monday, June 26.

PERSPECTIVE: Law is the Fabric That Holds Society Together

by Richard A. Robinson Let's face it, regardless of one's political leaning, economic philosophy, or cultural beliefs, we are in the midst of great turmoil. In the face of so much uncertainty, I initially found it somewhat difficult to be both sincere and inspiring.  But as I continued preparing, I realized that I had been looking for inspiration in all of the wrong places.

In our busy lives, we turn to video clips and sound bites for news and let the tenor of these brief snippets shape our outlook. Our mood is at the mercy of headlines, news feeds, and 140 character messages. We are accustomed to looking to our leaders and other public figures for encouragement and inspiration, and when it isn't readily available, we are easily discouraged. So, in times like these, we need to think a little bit more about the sources of our hope, encouragement, and inspiration.

When you think about it, doesn't real inspiration come from the people we live with, the people that we work with, and the people that we interact with on a daily basis? People who work hard and do their best to make the world a better place in their own unique way. People who make a commitment to something worthwhile and important, just as all of you have done.

The bottom line is that the reason we are celebrating today is because you are the future. The direction we will follow as a profession, as a nation, and as a world, is up to you.  Is that a bit scary? It should be! But it should also be exciting and exhilarating. As you graduate and prepare to embark on your career in the law, you hold tremendous power. On this most important day, I'd like for you to think about that power and to truly comprehend its significance.

So what does this mean for you? It means that, as you begin your career in the law, it is essential for you to understand that your obligations as an attorney extend far beyond the interests of your clients. They extend to the justice system, to the legal profession, and to society at large.

William Shakespeare focused on this duality in his play Henry the Sixth. The play includes a scene in which a character named Jack Cade, the leader of a rebellion against the crown, muses about what he would do if he were king. It is then that one of his followers, Dick the Butcher, utters what I believe is the most misunderstood line in all of Shakespeare's writings: "The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers." Cade heartily agrees. i

While many people believe that Shakespeare was expressing society's frustration with the lawyers and the legal profession, others, including myself, believe that he was actually paying us the ultimate compliment by pointing out that lawyers and the rule of law are the only things protecting society from anarchy. If you want to bring down society and render the people powerless, the first thing that you must do is get rid of the rule of law and all those who fight to protect it.

John Curtin, a former president of the American Bar Association once remarked that "[a]nyone who believes a better day dawns when lawyers are eliminated has the burden of explaining who will take their place. Who will protect the poor, the injured, the victims of negligence, the victims of . . . discrimination, and the victims of . . . violence? . . . Lawyers are the simple yet essential means by which people seek to vindicate their rights and we must not foreclose that means." ii

As you prepare to enter the practice of law, I urge you to think about the power that you hold, and strive to balance your obligation to your clients with your duties as an officer of the legal system. Our profession needs individuals who understand that, when a single attorney starts to chip away at the rule of law in order to secure an easy win for their client, it undermines the bedrock of our society. I recognize that, at times, this may not be easy. This is why our profession is in dire need of individuals who are willing to devote their time to working through these issues. Our small steps matter.

What we do every day affects the way that our profession is perceived by the public. The way that we act in the courtroom, the tone of voice that we employ, and whether we choose to treat others with dignity and respect. Our everyday words and deeds express our commitment, or lack thereof, to a fair and effective justice system. The simple decision to conduct ourselves in a manner that fosters respect also builds respect for what we do. When our own actions are added to those of our colleagues, we have an effective force for improvement.

If each of us strives to balance our duties to the public with our commitment to fairness, justice, and the rule of law, it will go a long way to restoring the public's faith in our profession and our legal system as a whole. This is particularly important in times of uncertainty. As you embark on your legal career, I urge you to keep this balance in mind. In doing so, you will serve as a source of inspiration and motivate others to take similar action.

Today you are taking a great step in your journey toward the practice of law and, on this special occasion, we celebrate the success that comes from many years of your hard work, sacrifice, and dedication. You have achieved a major goal by making major sacrifices. However, as others have said, what you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. The power to practice law brings not only the financial ability to support yourself and your family; it also brings along with it the responsibility to assist others and to help shape the legal profession of the future.

We are a remarkable people, living in a remarkable country, with a remarkable system of laws and justice, yet we are not perfect. As a quinquagenarian, I can remember some very turbulent times, the crescendo of the civil rights movement, the assassination of a United States President, a Presidential candidate, and several national civil rights leaders. I remember what happened at Kent State, and the burning of some of our major cities. These are the type of things that have destroyed other nations. Yet, we did more than survive; we thrived. So what saved us? What was different?

I believe that it was the hard work, dedication and sacrifices of people like you. People that chose paths similar to the ones that brought you here today. People who know that a lawyer assumes not only an obligation to their clients, but also solemn duties as an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice.

The oaths that you will eventually take and various rules, laws and regulations related to the practice of law are all designed to help you reach this lofty goal; you would be wise to heed them. But make no mistake, what I am asking you to do runs much deeper.

The legal profession is a noble one, but it is often greatly misunderstood. Many assume that lawyers are merely troublemakers that bring lawsuits that should not be brought and defend that which should not be defended. In reality, the law is the very fabric that holds our society together and, as lawyers, you bear the responsibility of being its tailors.

Look at any form of mass media today and you will see that we are living in interesting and troubling times. Both present events and those which lie on the horizon will stretch this fabric beyond its tearing point. As lawyers, you bear the tremendous burden of mending any rift that may occur.

Bear this responsibility well. Approach it with civility, reason, respect, compassion, and great purpose. The cold dispassionate procedures and technicalities of the legal profession often makes people think that lawyers are more interested in money, papers, forms, and procedures than they are in the everyday struggles of life.

People go to lawyers because they believe them to be problem solvers that will help them get through life's struggles. It would be a great disservice to let them leave feeling that they were not heard or, even worse, believing that your involvement not only failed to put out the embers of their angst, but fanned the flames that eventually consumed them.

Remember that you are more than just a representative of your clients. You are an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice. Persuade when you can, compromise when you should, and fight when you must.

Your responsibilities as lawyers will be great. You are the tailors of the very fabric of our society. Although you may never receive a hero's welcome for the work that you do, please know that you are our heroes.

I ask that you do more than just follow the rules, oaths, laws, and regulations that I mentioned earlier. I ask you to fully accept your responsibilities as lawyers, and to continue to listen ever so closely for that subtle tearing sound because you are the keepers of the cloth.

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Richard A. Robinson is an Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Connecticut in 1979 and a Juris Doctor degree from West Virginia University School of Law in 1984. Justice Robinson’s career is complimented by an array of public and judicial service.  This is an excerpt of remarks delivered on May 14 at the Commencement and Doctoral Hooding ceremony of the Quinnipiac University School of Law in the TD Bank Sports Center on the university’s York Hill Campus.

i WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, THE SECOND PART OF KING HENRY THE SIXTH act 4, sc. 2.

ii THOMAS F. BURKE, LAWYERS, LAWSUITS AND LEGAL RIGHTS 24 (2002).